Slowly Moving South

I am writing this from Smokehouse Bay, Marco Island. Smokehouse bay is a nice quiet bay surrounded by lovely homes, condos and restaurants. We had planned to be here for a day or two, but it may be a little longer as there is a strong front approaching from the north which may keep us from making Marathon on Friday as planned. Our next hop is to Everglade City, followed by about a six hour sail to Little Shark River. Both interesting places, but rather over run with mosquitoes and alligators, the mosquitoes being more vicious we understand! An extra day or two here seems preferable to the other two anchorages en route to Marathon.

SMOKEHOUSE BAY, MARCO ISLAND

However I am getting a little ahead of myself. Since last writing we have met up in Pelican Bay with Rob and Sue Linehan and Steve and Nancy Johnson and their friend Russ. Nancy and Steve rafted up with us and together we hosted a pot luck dinner for about 18 of their friends who had come to farewell the two boats on their trip to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. A lovely evening and nice for us also to meet some more cruisers.

NANCY & JULIE

THE FIVE INTREPID SAILORS. RUSS, ROB, SUE, STEVE & NANCY
The following morning we followed “Catalyst” and “Chat-eau” out into the Gulf of Mexico via the Boca Grand Pass. It was fun to watch them head south west as we followed the coastline down towards Fort Myers. As usual the wind was on the nose, so we motored most of the way arriving at Glover Bight around 4.00pm. We took a bit longer than expected although it didn’t really matter as it was a gorgeous day. The main issue was the crab pots. They are everywhere, literally. We spent many anxious moments dodging and weaving our way through them. It certainly decided us that an overnight trip really is out of the question during the crab season, something we had intended doing for the last leg into Marathon.
We left around 9.00am the following morning for the trip to Marco. As we were motoring down the channel towards the Fort Myers Bridge another Manta rushed past us and it was our friend Joe, who was heading north. He came alongside for a quick chat then shot past before we blocked the channel too much! The trip south was somewhat easier in terms of crab pots, but we still had to be vigilant as just when you thought you had seen the last of them, another bunch appeared.